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Death and Rebirth
Two days after the fall of Riverdrown, the party and their fellow survivors near the bustling port city of Duskharbor. Iornas appears to Roach and urges the warlock and his friends to find the source of his power at the Heart of the World; from what he can gather, something is tampering with it. He then imbues Roach with a strange light, before seemingly dying. The party meets with Cadmus Boyle. When asked by Roach about the Heart of the World, the wizard admits to knowing very little about such things, but says that the Mouse, a tiefling acquaintance of his in Duskharbor, might be able to assist them further. After anchoring, Taigus, Tingle, and Roach search a dockside tavern called the Sleeping Butcher for the Mouse, quickly happening across him and his docile companion Brass. The party notices that Brass is an Unscarred, like the ones they encountered in Aklier many weeks prior. Initially wary of the party, the Mouse warms up to them after they mention Boyle. He introduces himself as Mezir, an expert at "advanced breaking and entering", and claims to have found strange doors beneath Dracen Castle - the same castle that the party owns the deed to. He thinks these doors might lead to the Heart of the World, but doesn't knows for certain, as he hasn't been able to open the doors. Riding with friends and allies to the remote stronghold, Roach notices an Asmodean Mark on Mezir's forearm, but chooses to not bring the matter up. Arriving at Dracen Castle, the party cuts through the dragonborn mercenaries stationed there and are led by Mezir to a deep cavern below the wine cellar. Later, they come to a mound of collapsed rocks obstructing the cave tunnel. Brass lifts a particularly large rock to provide safe passage for the other party members, but is unable to pass through the mound himself without dropping the rock. Mezir promises to return to him soon, then continues with the party to the wide, stone doors supposedly guarding the Heart of the World. At a loss for what to do, Roach places a hand against the doors, causing the strange light to leave his body and open them. Beyond the doors is a bright teleportation field. The party walks into it and are suddenly transported to a massive cavern with an enormous crystalline pillar occupying its center. Clinging to the pillar and draining energy from it is a large, tentacled creature with a single, unblinking eye. It telepathically taunts the party and they engage it. The creature, referring to itself as an elderspawn, thrashes around Tingle, Mezir, and Roach and shows the young warlock a vision of the future in which Xauld has died and the Far Realm has consumed the Multiverse. However, Roach overcomes this distraction and thoroughly incinerates the elderspawn with hellish rebuke, leaving it a smoldering heap. Iornas reforms as a child, claiming to have his wits and vitality restored now that the elderspawn was no longer projecting its psychic interference. The demigod warns the party of a dire future approaching and gives them a shard of the pillar that can reverse the last 12 hours of reality one time. As the party leaves the Heart of the World, Roach feels a stinging sensation on his forearm and sees that an Asmodean Mark has appeared there, just like Mezir's.'''' Category:Episodes Category:Chapter Three